437 range

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The 437 program was the US military's second anti- satellite weapons development project .

Development of the anti-satellite program began in the early 1960s and ended definitively on April 1, 1975. The 437 program was approved for development on November 20, 1962 by US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara after a series of nuclear weapons tests as part of Operation Dominic , which also included tests in space. These tests were conducted on the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific .

A similar project was already running in 1962: Program 505 , located on the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Pacific, was the world's first operational anti-satellite program. The project had successful missile tests, but due to the use of the Nike Zeus anti- ballistic missile with a shorter range, it was discontinued in 1966 in favor of the PGM-17 Thor missile of the 437 program.

The Thor missiles were supposed to be armed with nuclear weapons that could destroy targets by the nuclear explosion or the resulting electromagnetic pulse . Although the program routinely performed successful tests on unarmed Thor missiles, the only high-altitude nuclear tests were conducted as part of Operations Argus , Hardtack and Dominic from 1958 to 1962. Argus took place in the South Pacific, Hardtack and Dominic on the Johnston Atoll.

Some of the results of these attempts, notably that of Starfish Prime from Operation Dominic in 1962, raised concerns that persisted well beyond the duration of the projects. In addition to the widespread effects of the electromagnetic pulse of the nuclear explosion, which inadvertently destroyed or damaged many satellites and ground-based electronic equipment more than 1,500 km away, a large amount of charged and radioactive particles was released. These were held back by the earth's magnetic field and created artificial radioactive belts, similar to the natural Van Allen belts , whose radiation was 100 to 1,000 times stronger than the normal background radiation . The increased levels of radioactivity were ultimately responsible for the crippling of a third of all satellites in low earth orbit and the complete destruction of at least seven, including the first commercial communications satellite, Telstar .

It was concluded that, due to the large damage radius, the use of program 437 in an emergency would lead to the arbitrary and indiscriminate destruction of friendly and hostile satellites and could potentially destabilize, if not even escalate, a non-nuclear conflict. In addition to these problems, the Soviet Union launched numerous military satellites into space, making it difficult to effectively target specific targets. The United States Air Force also had a limited number of Thor missiles, and the Department of Defense's military resources (especially financial ones) had changed significantly to the detriment of the program with the use of the US Army in the Vietnam War .

In October 1970, the Ministry of Defense put program 437 on hold for economic reasons. There were not made any more test launches and the weapons systems would have needed for effective Abfangeinsatz fourteen to thirty days as some components from the Vandenberg Air Force Base by Douglas C-124 - transport aircraft would have to be flown. These circumstances made the program less suitable for an emergency.

On August 19, 1972 , Hurricane Celeste destroyed most of the systems and fire control computers. Although the systems could be made functional again by September 1972, on December 8th an indeterminate error caused the systems to fail. The program was fully repaired by March 29, 1973 and remained on hold until the anti-satellite program on Johnston Atoll was completely discontinued on August 10, 1974. The 437 program was officially terminated on March 6 at the request of NORAD , and on April 1, 1975 the Department of Defense suspended funding of all anti-satellite programs. In January 1977, at the end of his tenure, President Gerald Ford issued a directive for the Department of Defense to resume research and development of an operational anti-satellite program. His successor Jimmy Carter accepted this and since then research has been carried out on this technology again, how exactly is unknown.

See also